Gensokyo's Off Days
by Shmarah
Summary: The moon doesn't get stolen every day, you know, and everyone in Gensokyo—that's quite a lot of characters there—has a relatively insignificant story or two to tell.
1. Foreword

Short stories! Touhou Project. No OCs, hopefully one story for every character eventually. Give me ideas! I need them.

Read on, read on.

-Shmarah


	2. Alice Margatroid

001: Alice Margatroid

Go, Tell it On the Mountain...

"How many times do I have to tell you? No!"

"C'mon, just for a second...? It's not like you're going to _die! _What are you, a vampire, da-ze!"

"Just because of that comment, _no!"_

"Aliiiiiiiice! Just open the door, please, oh, please, oh, please, oh, please, oh, pleaaaaaaaaaaase! Uuuuuu!"

"Oh, just give up, Kirisame...!" Alice whined as she adjusted the red laced hairband that was taming her short blonde hair; it had gotten a bit messy while she was strengthening the door with a sloppy spell card. Six of her dolls were now pressing against it along with their master, wiping away the perspiration on her forehead with much irritation, as Marisa Kirisame attempted to Final Spark it open.

"O. Pen. The. _DOOORRR_!" the black-white screamed over the sound of her mini-hakkero that was currently exploding with its magical annihilating lasers of love. Her voice was thick with desperation; she had been trying to get Alice to come outside all morning, and it was almost time, not to mention her thinning magic...

"I refuse!" called the dollmaker from the inside of her dark, dank house. She knew that staying inside all day wasn't good for her health, but when you're a youkai, you don't really tend to worry about dying anytime soon. Marisa wouldn't understand...

Besides, her favorite anime was going to come on in a couple minutes, so if she could just get that witch to leave...

Speaking of whom, Marisa blew at her hakkero to cool it down, as its rainbow fire eventually grew quiet, before tucking it into her apron pocket with a frustrated grimace on her face. "Look, Alice, do you even know why I'm trying to get you to come outside today? Do you have even the slightest clue, ze!"

"Patchouli was boring you?" she replied, voice dripping with acidic sarcasm.

"Alice!" Marisa interjected, her voice growing louder as Alice heard her stalk angrily towards the door. The black magician took off her hat and pressed her forehead against the oakwood door (which was, through magic, unscathed even after her full power attack) and, just a couple inches of wood away from her friend, said,

"Please. I'm running out of time here, and we're-_I'm_ growing impatient. I need you Alice, and I care about you and your wellbeing. Come outside, please. I'm asking nicely. You know I don't do that, but I'll try it just this once, especially special for you, ze."

Alice bit her cheek, cursing the blush that crept onto her face. "Y-yeah right. Like you would say that in front of anyone else. I bet you say the same crap to that shut-in purple youkai in her stupid library to get her to come out. You're a dishonest, lying, two-faced thief and I would never believe you!"

To Alice's surprise, Marisa giggled, and instead of being angry, said, "No, Alice, I would actually be okay with anyone hearing me say that. You... You don't even know!" she said with a laugh. "I would scream it in _Aya's_ face to publish it in the newspaper. I care about Alice Margatroid. Hear that world_? _I care about that stupid, incredibly _stubborn _youkai blondie that still plays with dolls and I'm not ashamed of it! So can she please come outside so I can see the aforementioned little beauty of mine?_"  
><em>

Alice refused to cry. Marisa would not gain the satisfaction of hearing her cry with joy.

Could she really trust her? This lying, scheming thief? The worst part was that she felt like she could trust Marisa with her life at this point... Maybe she was right...

No. No, she couldn't let herself be hurt again. Trusting other people was bad. Nobody can hurt you if you only trust yourself, only yourself.

And your dolls.

Her voice wavered with uncertainty and pain as she forced out,

"You're just saying that! You would never say that to my face! Anyone's... face! So, s-so... I don't believe you, you... jerk!"

The magician on the other side of the door sighed, clicking her tongue. "Okay, okay, ze, if this is what it's going to take."

Alice watched through the crack of the door and was just barely able to make out Marisa taking out her mini-hakkero and holding it to her mouth as if she was going to use it like a megaphone, as the puppetmaster had seen her do before. That hakkero could do anything, including amplify your voice to outstanding levels... Of course, she seriously wasn't actually thinking of...

Marisa looked into Alice's eyes, knowing she was watching, and grinned that perfect, perfect grin of hers.

With enough volume to make a flock of birds take off in agony, all of the dolls cover their ears, and Alice to feel a great amount of pain in hers, Marisa's hakkero amplified her already screaming loud voice as she cried out with glee,

_**"I LOVE YOU ALICE MARGATROIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!"**_

Her long blond hair went wild, the door cracked a bit with the power of her soundwaves alone, and a tear came down Alice's softened face.

When she was done, the black-white returned the octogonal block of wood to her apron pocket, coughing to clear her hoarse voice. She knew that she was most definitely going to get a hard time from Reimu and everyone else after that stunt...

But she also knew that it was all worth it, as she watched the door slowly creak open, and out Alice stepped onto her front yard, defeat in her eyes but an unbreakable smile on her face.

And Marisa couldn't help but grin when she saw Alice's eyes grow wide in realization as she took in what she saw in front of her.

"Oh my... I... I completely forgot..." she muttered, barely audible with how her voice felt like it had been sucked out of her...

The witch ran over to her, unable to resist wrapping her arms around the girl, as half of Gensokyo-Reimu, Yukari, the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the ghosts, the oni, the tengu, the fairies, the Myouren temple youkai, the Eientei crew, the Moriya Shrine Conspiratory Trio, the Palace of the Earth Spirits, the Bamboo Thicket bunnies... everyone sitting together, laughing, stealing icing from the cake, were there... Alice couldn't stop whispering overjoyed 'Thank you...'s into Marisa's soft hair as they all cried in unison,

_"Happy birthday, Alice!"_


	3. Aya Shameimaru

Trying my best to keep up weekly; this is hard to even, like, REMEMBER to put up, even when I have a story already written. Honors classes ftw.

* * *

><p><span>002: Aya Shameimaru<span>

_An Extra Special Extra_

"Just... one... more... article..." Aya mumbled, before dropping her forehead to the desk in front of her in defeat; it was the front page article, after all, that she had to finish, and there _was_ the fact that she had absolutely zero idea on what to write, what with her complete lack of material, and she was trying to get through a terrible hangover...

Himekaidou and Inubashiri had knocked on her door and told her that some oni had come over to the bottom of the mountain and were having such a party that even the kappa were enjoying themselves, and then she gave in, figuring that she could pull an all-nighter the next day...

Now she was pulling the aforementioned all-nighter, and also trying to ignore her ramming headache. Although she'd barely managed to write a report on the decrease in wheat sales during the past quarter, she realized too late that there wasn't a single story to put on the front page, and the Bunbunmaru Newspaper was expected to be delivered at 5 AM the next day.

She grimaced when she looked at the clock and winced at its burning LED light-she hadn't had a wink of sleep and her deadline was in fact in _two hours._

"Why did I drink so much sake?" she questioned her pet crows, most of whom were perched on the stack of books beside her typewriter.

"Right, you guys can't answer that," she groaned, raspingly, turning to face them with all the fire of Old Hell burning in her drooping eyes. "You never do _anything _useful_._"

To say she was crabby from the stress would be an utmost understatement. Filled with rage, she took it out on her loyal, loving servants.

"_Do _you do anything? No. You don't even attack enemies right. You just run past them and hope your danmaku hits." Her mess of hair shook with the power of her frustration. "Cowards, you, you never help with anything, you dirty birds! Why do I even let you come into my house anyway; you're all just filthy, freeloading parasitic animals that think you can take advantage of me. Well, you can't, so if you're not going to earn your pay, then you should all just _leave!"_

Aya's voice dripped with piercing acid, but her expression softened when she saw the pained disbelief on the faces of her obedient, forever steadfast subordinates.

"Ayayayayaya...! You know what, I don't care what you crap-faces think!" she ranted gratingly, even though the crows hadn't (and wouldn't if they could have) said anything.

"I just don't care anymore; I'm going to bed!" Aya marched off, aware that she was leaving her work unfinished and that her bosses would be having at her in the morning, a string of curse words flowing out of her mouth.

* * *

><p>If birds could cry, Aya's crows would be doing so—if they didn't look up to her with the utmost respect and loyalty, they wouldn't follow her around all the time. Such a harsh, unfair lecture had torn them all apart, and they all looked to their crow leader (there were about 13 of them living with Aya at that point in time) expectantly.<p>

(Roughly translated from Crow-ese,) the leader sighed, saying, "W-Well, a-after that, caw, I realize that you are all very..."

"Heartbroken, caw?"

"Downcast, caw?"

"Dejected, caw?"

"Crestfallen, caw?"

"Hungry!"

"Well, yes, I'm sure that you are all very upset...except for Karl over there, caw..." commented the Leader, who clutched at his heart, his voice wavering with his grief.

"But as you all know, Master Aya-sama is always correct." This brought nods of agreement as they all tried to handle their crow-y emotions, drowning in shame.

"Therefore, you all know what we have to do..." he said, eyes glittering nobly and dutifully.

A crow in the back raised his wing. "Eat, caw?"

"No, Karl, we must do what we were born to do...!"

"Eating, caw?"

Someone smacked Karl upside his head.

The tengu's flock of crows all grinned, hopping down from their respective perches to Aya's work desk, cheering, "We were born to serve our master!"

* * *

><p>The next morning, Aya Shameimaru woke up at 12:00 noon, trying to force an apologetic look onto her face. She really was fond of her pet crows; they were useful little lackeys and they never complained much, not to mention that it was nice to have a group of beings who would serve and idolize you unconditionally, even if they were birdbrains.<p>

She decided that she ought to apologize to them, even with the inevitable threat of her boss's wrath looming over her menacingly.

"Say, look, guys... I didn't mean to yell..." she started saying as she walked into her workroom, only to find that she was talking to thin air.

Where did they... Why...

She smacked herself; In her rage, she had told them to leave. How could she be so ruthless? They were loyal, loving pets, and she had set them packing because she was grumpy. Sometimes, she cursed how impulsive she could be.

"Better off that way... They don't have to see their beloved master get pummeled by her angry boss," she said, attempting to comfort herself.

Speaking of which, where _was _her boss? It was already noontime; she expected them to be here by now, wondering what had happened to the articles she was supposed to have submitted earlier that morning.

Maybe they were waiting outside her front door to ambush her and use her bones to cook stew with which to serve to all the tengu.

Or maybe they would stun her and then sell her body parts on the black market to kappa.

Or maybe they injected deadly neurotoxins taken from the _Conium maculatum _plant native to the Mediterranean region into the coffee she was currently drinking, which would result in ascending muscular paralysis with eventual pretrification of the respiratory muscles, leading to death due to lack of oxygen to the heart and brain...

After washing the coffee down the sink, Aya checked herself for signs of loss of muscle movement and, finding it all coming up clear, cautiously stepped towards her front door.

However, what rammed into her face was a mound of black feathers.

"Karl!" she cried with glee, picking up the fat little crow and hugging him to her chest. "You came back!"

In Crow-ese, he squawked while flying over to Aya's work desk, "Yeah, I ran out of papers to deliver, but it looks like there's none left here anyway. So can I have food now, caw?"

Recognizing his familiar, hungry face, Aya fetched a bowl of cereal for him to eat before squeeing with happiness as she saw the rest of the 13 crows fly in through the door.

"You guys... You all came back for me...? Ayayaaa...!" she grinned, overjoyed tears coming to her, before putting on a more serious face. "Look, I was mean to you guys. Real bad and stuff. I'm sorry. We're all friends now?"

They all nodded in agreement, embracing their master with their jet black wings. Their loving embrace, however, was interrupted by the doorbell.

Aya opened the door once again, holding her breath with anticipation, as she saw Soujoubou* himself standing in front of her. Taking orders from only Lord Tenma himself, Soujoubou, the self-proclaimed "King of all you karasa-tengu," was one of the more intimidating tengu on Youkai mountain.

"Look, I can explain," Aya nervously started. "The paper, the deadline, the messed-up everything, and... and putting hats on those statues; it was all Himekaidou's fault!" she attempted, smiling. "I promise, I'll get the paper out by tomorrow morning, so—"

"Actually," he interrupted, "The paper did come out this morning. Right on schedule, too, and delivered by your crows over there, dop."

Aya looked at him with disbelief before she understood.

Feeling a wave of appreciation and gratitude come over her, she held out her elbow, and Leader obediently came and perched on it, holding his head high with pride. "Thank you," she whispered to him.

Her crows had taken it upon themselves to put together and deliver her newspaper; Aya was at their debt and had never felt more impressed. She beamed with pride towards her faithful familiars.

"But wait..." she said. Something was wrong. "Soujoubou-sama, w-what are you here for, then, exactly?"

"I just wanted an explanation for _this."_

He held up the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, the current date proudly displayed at the top.

Aya's proud, grateful grin faded as she took a look at the front page article.

_"AD9U23IH0GSVJOISD90Y09_

_khihx dhh9dijdjode_

_41c35 j8uewy98xlc;b_

_amsdovs0h9h23erbvc5v415d_

_dsfjs9em,3d09vkmju5r9qkkgkdj9e[w_

_edsyqw9y12 'M CP12T1ASDVM,ASD._

_DJjdd832hv, s1g4321\wep]23wg900-4[6-_

_asdfasdbsdfndsijjljihphgmvj"_

* * *

><p>"You <em>idiot BIRDBRAINS!<em>" a tengu high above all of Gensokyo's heads screamed, dashing across the skies in retreat with her pet crows, their pursuers gaining fast. "Now go and shoot your danmaku at them like the slaves you are! I don't want to see your putrid faces again until they're all passed out on the ground, pests!"

Even as she shook her fist at her familiars in aggravation, if she had to be chased through the air by her furious bosses while trying to shoot danmaku at them all, Aya Shameimaru couldn't have think a better flock of crows to be accompanied by.

* * *

><p>FINS.<p>

*Soujoubou is a famous tengu; not necessarily from Gensokyo, but where else do tengu live, anyway?

Also, the line Aya says afterwards is a little reference to Marisa...


	4. Bishamonten

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  
>Okay, late Thanksgiving. I was busy being fat, not that many of you could have missed me, but after Thanksgiving I kind of went on hiatus... I'm back! (Can't wait till Christmas...)<p>

Also, I was too tired to proofread this well, please forgive me.

* * *

><p><span>003: Bishamonten<span>  
><em>The Myouren Temple Anniversary<em>

"What a haughty name this shack has been bestowed," an very, very large, armor-clad man says, peering at one of the bronze nameplates placed on either side of the path to Myouren temple. "If his sister were merely a driblet the monk that her brother were, then perhaps I would not be burdening this phenomena of carrying thy flesh legs..." he muttered to himself, stopping to pick his nose.  
>"Esh-kyuuuuuuse meeeee...!"<p>

A vibrant green tuft poked him, its singsong voice irritating.

What phantasm! It was a short youkai girl, her rapidly flapping coffee colored ears the mark of a yamabiko, a pesky echo spirit.  
>"If you're loooookin' for the paaaaar-tay, you're a bit laaa-"<p>

Shut up abruptly as he bent down to examine her—dusty pink dress, medium length green hair, overworked broom at hand—the little youkai girl was not afraid. Rather, she was trying to guess what he had eaten for breakfast that morning, based on his rank breath.  
>He, however, was of greated perplexion. No fear in her eyes! No tremble in her puny knees! Could it be that she was indeed someone of great prowess and courage? Intelligence? Power?<p>

"Oh, I betcha' you had waffles for breakfast, am I riiiiiiiiiiiight?"  
>No, a pathetic youkai girl indeed.<p>

"Why art thou refraining from a swift retreat? Why have you yet to fall to thy knees in pure terror? ndeed, make it so! Cower beneath me! Flee at the sight of me! See my almighty power that will vanquish all enemies that come before me!" he cried with earsplitting, mountain shaking volume.

Kyouko covered her ears; his booming voice was much too powerful for her sensitive ears. Oh, why couldn't anyone else hear him? Perhaps it was the mountains, which would be the site of an avalanche if he continued...  
>She ran, shrieking in a rather painful fashion, as if she were a banshee; oh, how loud he was!<p>

"Yes, they all run in defeat at the sight of me! Run, run for the life of thineselves, for I am the great god of warfare, the mighty warrior, the heavenly gate, the punisher of evil!"  
>"Help! Heeeeeeeeeelp!" Kyouko shrieked, as the armor-clad man's voice echoed throughout all of Gensokyo:<br>_"I am Bishamonten!"_

Shou Toramaru stepped forward and smiled. "One year ago, after we sailed the mighty palanquin into Makai and rescued our mighty leader, we established the Myouren Temple with Byakuren-sama leading us courageously, with the noble goal of sharing Buddhism with the youkai prejudiced against in Gensokyo and all around the world. Today, we see that we have come so far in a year, all thanks to the beautiful Byakuren's strong leadership that brought us through tough times. And now, I realize that-"

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYY!"  
>A shriek, so highpitched that someone's glasses shattered, broke out through the courtyard, causing quite a ruckus, especially for the dog youkai.<br>"Help me puh-LEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE!" Kyouko Kasodani came barreling through the croud, her ears a blur, emitting a ridiculously shrill cry that echoed agonizingly off of every object.

Shou stepped off to get a hold of her. "Kyouko-san! What's up with you?"  
>"Whaat? Whaaat did you SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY?"<p>

It didn't take much of her wailing for them to realize that she was temporarily deaf, and to prevent the same from happening to the raving crowd (that Ichirin and Unzan were attempting to calm) someone produced a paper and brush which she took with gratitude, writing as best as a youkai of her... mental capacity... could learn to write.

"Master, what does it say?" Nazrin inquired, as Shou held up the paper.  
>"Erm... '<em>Scary big guy make boom yell<em>.'"  
>Byakuren looked over her shoulder suspiciously. "What could that mean, Shou?" she inquired, and the disciple of the Vaisravana was about to reply when she froze.<p>

An echo... Growing steadily in volume...

Byakuren took Shou by the arm, the two of them noting the looks in each others' eyes, and the monk asked, "Kasodani-san, where's that echo coming from?"  
>By the time Nazrin had written this on the paper and the yamabiko had read it and pointed in the direction, it was rather unnecessary, for everyone was already staring at the man-no, the <em>god-<em>standing at the gate of the temple's back courtyard, as his voice echoed incessantly...

_"SHOU TORAMARUU!"_

Despite the extreme pain that was seizing everyone's ears, especially her large mouse ones, Nazrin still began immediately tending to her master after she fainted.

"I hath come for the gorbellied tiger youkai who called herself my disciple," he said when he had reached the platform where Byakuren, Ichirin, Nazrin, Murasa, Kyouko, and Shou were standing-rather, lying down in Shou's case, but that is beside the point.

Hijiri-sama immediately came forward, the look on her face she was so known and loved for ever so evident. Leave it to Byakuren to save the day, as usual! "O great one, I am honored by your visit on the temple's first anniversary. Yet, if I may be so bold to say you have no right to simply-"

"Temple anniversary? Aha! Ha! Ha!" the towering giant mockingly laughed, indifferent to the rage building in the pure and saintly monk's disciples. "Tis more like anniversary of the year that impertinent poxed coward over there stopped carrying out her duties to _me!_ Look at her sleeping! Ha!_"_

"Who the hell do you think you are?" demanded Nazrin, leaving her master's side.  
>"Yeah!" Murasa crossed her arms. "Nobody insults Shou but me! And nobody insults Byakuren but... Well, yeah, nobody insults Byakuren..."<p>

He laughed harder. "You say this like you art intelligent little fools. You fail to understand, do you, you yeastly louts! The lot of you! I am Bishamonten, god of warfare, punisher of evil, why do you not cower beneath me?"

Byakuren, head down, gradient-hair hiding her dark face, spoke firmly and solemnly, as if instructing a misbehaving puppy. "You have come into my temple and you have insulted its residents, but state your business clearly and quietly and we should be obliged to do our best to comply."

"Very well, my once loyal devotee," he grinned at Byakuren.

"You see, poorly youkai who come to this surly, run-down shack..." he started, addressing the entire crowd, now beginning to calm down thanks to Unzan and Ichirin.

"All feared me in years past! The leader of all the yaksas who dwelled on Mount Sumeru's slopes, the armor-clad God of warriors and punisher of evildoers, the great Bishamonten!

"The youkai ran at my sight, with the idea that I would surely exterminate them. They flocked far from Byakuren's temple, once a quiet devotee, Myouren's older sister. Yes, Hijiri-kun had been tolerable at that time. Ha!

"She wanted the youkai to worship me. And thus, presented me the most 'straightforward and honest' youkai of the mountain, _that _wench!" he cried, pointing at the still unconscious Shou.

"Still, I complied, I took Toramaru as my disciple, but my trust she never did gain. Thus, I assigned Nazrin, my once _loyal _helper to keep that beast youkai in line. She did fine enough until that purply youkai lover got what was coming towards her!

"After that, 'twas all about rescue Hijiri, save Hijiri, worship Hijiri. Nazrin's loyalty lies in Hijiri and even greater, in Toramaru. How long has it been since you have remembered me? You have been too busy aiding Hijiri in her everything! She might as well be a god herself!

"You art all pigheaded haggards! Bait me not, I demand I take that disciple of mine who even had the nerve to lose my pagoda, and that good-for-nothing mouse who had the nerve to buy it at a secondhand-shop for dirty money, and execute them for the dewberry codpieces they art! You gudgeons! You harpy scuts! Especially you, Hijiri, you treacherous, hogging, pompous little charlatan mo—"

"_SHUT UP!" _Shou's voice suddenly cried; none of them had seen her come to. "I stopped caring about you _because _Hijiri was more important! She always has been, and she never stopped believing in me! You never trusted me, I see that now!" Tears were streaming freely down her face. The crowd was silent.

"Master, please..." started Nazrin, rushing towards her.  
>"Master? Thy master is me, you foolish rat! Step away from her and come here if you know what is right for you!"<p>

Nazrin stood still, eyes wide, confliction evident on her agitated face.  
>With a final, apologetic glance at Shou, she stepped toward her original master...<p>

"Don't move, Nazrin," commanded Byakuren, and she swiftly obeyed. "O great Bishamon, I am afraid you have failed to fool me."  
>"What are you talking about!"<br>"You're here because you've become weak and need our help, aren't you?" Byakuren smiled.

Bishamonten eyed her suspiciously, but stayed quiet.

"In a word, you're bluffing."

"...Well, I shall say, that is... That is preposterous, you mammering wen—"

"Please, don't try any harder, I can see how difficult this is for you, great one.

"You were associated with the youkai after the humans saw so many no longer afraid of you. When they discovered your disciple, Shou, and your devotee, me, were youkai theirselves. When we were sealed, the youkai in my temple on Mount Sumeru scattered, and you were eventually left without faith from humans _and _them.  
>"Nobody believed in you, after quite a good amount of time, and you ended up in flesh, in Gensokyo, recently.<br>"The first place you looked for was Myouren Temple; Now you're demanding Shou and Nazrin back, thinking you can use them to gain back power, is that all not right?"

Byakuren seemed to sparkle as she nonchalantly smoothed out the wrinkles in her black and white dress. Meanwhile, Bishamonten was silent as the crowd clapped and cheered for their fearless leader. With a single motion by Byakuren, the crowd was instantly quiet again.

"However, I assure you that you are not at fault here; I have always been in great devotion and admiration of you, Bishamonten, and wanted you to be at my temple, however busy you always seemed to be. You did a marvelous job at convincing me you were so bombarded with tasks in the human world that I did not want to ask you to have to spend time at my temple, now that it was situated in Gensokyo.  
>"I must say, this is a chance for more celebration on Myouren temple's one year anniversary! The great Bishamonten is here for us to once again worship, finally, in Gensokyo! Everyone, raise your voices for the great god of warfare, the punisher of evil, Bishamonten!"<p>

The crowd exploded once again, and although they were mostly cheering for Hijiri-sama's outstanding wit, Bishamonten seemed content.

"Ah, yes, well, I suppose I _could _take a break from my usual appointments. I mean, Mount Sumeru is beautiful, but looking at the same scenery everyday can be so tiring. Yes, indeed, I suppose I could settle on this mountain, half-way down, of course, that should be fine. Does this Gensokyo have good meat?"

Nazrin gave Shou a hug, who in return hugged Byakuren, who, with a little difficulty, hugged the clanking, armor-clad Vaisravana, and then Murasa was hugging Ichirin was hugging Unzan who was hugging everyone, and the rest of the evening was hugs and cheers and, of course, incredible amounts of sake.

And that was how the great god of warfare Bishamonten came to live in Gensokyo, how Shou Toramaru was able to continue gathering faith in his name, how Byakuren was able to show the youkai not to judge books by their covers, how Kyouko ended up getting a hearing aid in her left ear, and how Captain Minamitsu Murasa became pregnant.  
>Alright, just kidding about the last one.<br>...Maybe.

* * *

><p>The end.<p>

Boy, that was a hard one.

And Byakuren again next week. I find her way so awesome and kind and mature and... cool... Rather unlike other Touhou final bosses who have such selfish/mischievous/foolish/downright insane motives for being final bosses.  
>Then again, I love Okuu, even if her motive was kind of, "BLOW UP AAAALLL THE THINGS!"<p> 


	5. Nitori Kawashiro, Pt 1

So I decided that I'm getting NOWHERE forcing myself to do alphabetical order, and I keep passing up these really great ideas for stories i'm getting because they're much later in the alphabet, so as of now, SCREWING the alphabetical order!

Perhaps I'll reorder them later ish but… For now, I have a huge emotional Nitori-themed weight on my chest so…

Note: Set before the Mountain of Faith storyline.

* * *

><p><span>004: Nitori Kawashiro<span>  
><em>Their Key Home<em>

Sunlight kisses the rocks with relish.

It peeks through the leaves, rests on the water like glitter––with assorted vegetational muck and lily-pads gone astray hitching a ride, the river foams and rushes down the falls, cuts through the rapids, pours generously into a pool of sudden calm stillness… the perfect spot for a doll of mischief to rest in a woven basket, her raft on a calm summer day. You see, one can't spin around effortlessly while sitting down on land, but it is remarkably easy, and relaxing, when sitting in a basket floating on the water. Autumn approached with a cheerfully warm smile.

Underneath, however, this smile, was the inevitable cold to come with winter––Hina Kagiyama should be assisting the villagers with preparing for the harvest, as she usually loved to do, but seeing this day as possibly being one of the last warm ones in a long while, perhaps a bit of dawdling could be afforded.

She wasn't the only one with that idea, as told by the blue boots spotted kicking in the wind off the side of a large rock, jutting out from the river bank in a way that made it easily accessible as a place to sit.

"A nice day, isn't it? Is that you, Kawashiro-san?"

A green hat nestled between two bright blue pigtails appeared in the distance as Nitori Kawashiro sat herself up. "Aha! Bongiorno Hinarin! Yea, the last nice day we'll have in a while, I'm afraid. How good of us to take advantage of it!"

The kappa's full upper body, complete with her smiling eyes that were leaning precariously over the side of the rock, came into view as Hina's basket drifted towards her stone perch. "Indeed, my friend. Say, isn't it a bit warm to be wearing long sleeves?" commented the kind little curse goddess. Then again, there weren't many days Nitori was seen out of her turquoise work clothes, complete with at least fifty pockets despite her having such a bulky green backpack. There was often wild speculation upon what she had to keep in all those nooks and crannies.

"Well, I'm still on duty, so I have to wear my uniform, Kagiyama-chan~ Us kappa are building us an even bigger model of the crop harvester last year! Wanna' help?" She grinned with excitement.

Ah, yes, how Nitori-like to consider sleeping on the rocks part of one's "duty." Hina restrained a giggle as she politely declined the offer. "I promised to aid the humans in some work this year again, but I'll definitely come and see what you've made when I get the chance. Perhaps you could present it to the humans? I'm sure they'd enjoy its aid."

To her surprise, Nitori's eyes dimmed with a sudden solemnity at the mention. "I… That… sounds like a… nice idea. You should bring it up to the other kappa, they might be interested."

Hinarin, fiddling with the ribbon tying up her Kelly-green locks, pouted involuntarily. "Ah, I'm not on particularly good terms with many of the other kappa; they don't quite understand my powers, if you know what I mean. Why not you?" Hina steadied her basket's spinning by grabbing onto an adjacent boulder by othe other side of the river bank before she continued, "The kappas and humans are quite friendly with each other these days, and the harvest has always been so diff-"

"Hina, I don't like humans…" Nitori interrupted, her usual overbearing confidence wavering. Holding her backpack in her arms, she laid her back onto the rock again, relishing the cool feel of the stone on her skin.

"Why, that sort of thinking is so… outdated! Old-world, moth-eaten, antediluvian, anachronistic… frumpy! The last time I saw a kappa and a human not get along was when Jonah tried to take from Miki's jar of cucumbers! I mean, some of the old-timers have equally archaic ideas about the youkai, but most of them can't even go to the bathroom themselves, let alone make more than a bit of fuss… Why, this is Gensooookyooooo!" she sang with a twirl. "Youkai and humans coexist peacefully and harmonically, like milk and cookies, like motivational posters with dogs hugging cats, like bowel movements and––"

"Hina, shhhhh!" Nitori pleaded, having adjusted herself in such a way that she was lying on her belly and looking over the rock directly at her friend's face, her small, crafty hands clutching the stone's edge. "You _know _I don't like humans, so stop talking about them, uwaaa…"

"Nitori, give them a chance, there's not much of a difference between…"

"I gave them a chance!" Nitori yelled with startling volume.

A bird fluttered off in fright.

The silence that followed was equally deafening.

Hina twisted her hair in her hands, unsettled. "…What do you mean?"

The pigtailed kappa turned her back away. Thinking she was done talking, the goddess of misfortune began to direct her basket back down the river's current until Nitori suddenly spoke, staring at the trees hanging above them, at no one in particular:

"I once knew a boy…"


	6. Nitori, Pt 2

A cattail swirls in the water.

Her long blue hair is tamed by a loose ponytail as she absentmindedly stirs the river water with the bulrush in her hand.

She looks up at his gleeful laugh as the cold water hits his bare ankles playfully.

Village boy. Sticky face and muddy hands. Purposefully lost in the middle of the forest. Didn't see her, hidden by the undergrowth and by the magic: a relatively young kappa, about a century old. Hardly interested in the other kappa, her intelligence too superior for that, let alone the humans. Awkward, bumbling youkai with no purpose.

As a result, when she sees how lost he probably is, she doesn't bother glancing at him for more than a second.

When he splashes into the river water without recourse despite the sky's steady dimming and the considerable distance from where Nitori presumed his home was, she carries on with her business.

When he cries in surprise at not being tall enough to step on the bottom of the river floor

When he treads water in panic crying out for his mother

When he slips under the water again

She carries on indifferently. Apathetically. Unconcerned. Shrugging.

_Not my division._

When he doesn't come back up

The stretchy plant fibers tying up her hair are weak, so her ponytail nearly comes loose in the water. The river is familiar, soothingly so––yet she is not soothed in the least.

She cradles his small body in her strong arms, waterproof clothing giving her no resistance. His considerable weight does, however.

Clutching the cattails jutting out from the riverbank, dragging his wet body onto the mud, holding him still. He couldn't be older than the human age of 9.

_Breathe._

_Please, please breathe._

_Breathe, goddesses d*mnit, wake up and breathe!_

_You can't be dead, please…_

She feels tears brimming.

Stupid humans, being so fragile, so weak. Selfishly weak.

A finger brushes away the tear on her cheek.

_"Don't cry, the forest isn't scary."_

_"What?"_

_"The forest isn't scary, you don't have to cry."_

_"You aren't scared of the youkai?"_

_"Are you a youkai?"_

_"Yes. Am I scary?"_

_"No, you're pretty."_

The human village at dusk

Her cheeks still glowing with fervor

She wakes him up and lets him climb off her back while they're still yards away from the village lights, can't let the villagers see her.

He gives her a hug; she says goodbye.

_"Can we play tomorrow?"_

_"I… I don't think… Um…"_

He's grinning so widely.

She sighs.

_"Sure."_

_"I'll find you!"_

_"…Sure you will."_

He goes home to a scolding he doesn't hear.

_He's not coming_

_He's scared of me_

_I scared him_

_He thinks the kappa are evil_

_That I'll kill him_

_He's not coming_

* * *

><p>She is interrupted by his arms peeking through the leaves he is crying because he cut himself on a thorn bush.<p>

She helps him wash it in the river and bandage it with the same fibrous material she uses for her ponytail.

His smile in thanks is more than an adequate repayment for her.

He's brought cucumber sandwiches. Kappa like that sort of thing, right?

Yes, very much so.

She walks him home, hand in hand.

* * *

><p>He's brought her something in a paper bag today.<p>

They used to be his older sister's.

Two strong hair ties with little red beads strung through––he helps her put her hair into uneven pigtails.

She cannot stop reaching up to see if they're there, as if she doesn't believe them to be real, and giggling.

* * *

><p>He turns 11 today.<p>

For her birthday, she makes him a wooden flying toy of sorts.

They play with it until the sunlight is a dimming purple. They forget about his curfew, and he gets scolded upon returning home. He grins so widely, however, his mother gives up and sends him to his room without dinner.

* * *

><p><em>I always come to play with you, why don't you ever come to play with me?<em>

His words echoed in her mind until one day she found herself hiding behind a boulder, ankle deep in the area of the river where the village children played.

_"She's sooooo cool! Her hair is, like, blue! Like blue like turquoise-ish."_

_"That's crazy, man, nobody's got blue hair. That'd look, like, freaky."_

_"Don't say that! Kappa-san is beautiful!"_

_"Hey, is he talking about his imaginary kappa girlfriend again…"_

_"She's not imaginary! And, and she's not my girlfriend!"_

She giggled, but was it okay that she was a little disappointed to hear that?

Their bickering was interrupted as someone pointed at a wooden toy hovering in the sky, it carried a note.

_"It's from Kappa-san"_

_"Yeah right…"_

His name was imprinted in large kanji. He showed her how to write it in the dirt.

He also taught her how to write, "I love you."

* * *

><p>He's crying. He's angry. At her.<p>

_"You don't touch that! Never touch it!"_

The key around his neck.

_"I'm sorry… I didn't…"_

_"It's my key home. Without it, Mom said I won't be able to go home."_

_"I'm sorry, i'm sorry, I…"_

_"…No, no don't cry Nitori, don't… I'm sorry…"_

They take solace in each others' arms.

* * *

><p>The other kappa make jokes about her. Is it bad that, despite her persistant giggling for them to cut it out, she enjoyed it? Just a little, on the inside. They started calling her the Valley Kappa, a new species of kappa that spent more time near the human village than in the water.<br>She took pride in the name and used it in introducing herself, on occasion.

* * *

><p>He turns 16 today.<p>

"_I'm too old for childish toys, Nitori."_

"_Well, I'm a hundred years older than you, and i still like them."_

"_You don't have to get me anything, anymore, really."_

_"But I want to, uwaaa!"_

* * *

><p><em>"I got you a different present."<em>

_"Nitori, I said you didn't have to-"_

_"Shh! Follow me!"_

Pushing through the bush, she leads him to a clearing. There, growing out of the shallow water, a tree so wide that it'd take seven men holding hands to surround it. In it, out protruded a front porch with a rope ladder swinging with the gentle breeze that had managed to penetrate the trees.

_"Nitori, this is amazing!"_

He laughed.

_"Why… Why are you crying?"_

He asked.

_"It's so great to know I made you happy…!"_

* * *

><p>His parents are telling him to get married.<p>

He's 26 years old, there are plenty of beautiful women in the village to court.

Who was he interested in?

_"Nitori Kawashiro."_

Honey, she's not real.

The kappa don't like humans

Kappa are evil.

You're too old for this.

* * *

><p>Everyone goes to laugh at the boy who is in love with an kappa.<p>

_"It doesn't matter as long as i know you're real."_

_"Hey, they know that kappa are real. They don't, though, think that niiice kappa are real. It's not fair."_

_"I know it's not."_

_"Nothing ever is."_

_"It can be, Nitori."_

_"How?"_

_"I love you, NItori. Will you marry me?"_

* * *

><p>The human village.<p>

Her first step past the gate.

Her pigtails as evenly distributed as possible.

_"Let's go meet your parents!"_

Burying her nervousness in false cheer, failing to avoid a waver in her speech.

_"You really didn't have to…"_

_"Yes, I did, no turning back now. Kappa and humans have been sworn friends from ancient times! It's time we reconcile."_

_"But that was before the war, before we started looking at youkai as..."_

_"Uwaaa, shush, you talk too much!"_

A kiss on the cheek.

* * *

><p>She didn't cry when they stared at her in shock as if she were a monster. [Maybe she was.]<p>

She didn't cry when they screamed at their son and addressed her as an "it." [Maybe she deserved it.]

She didn't cry when they chased her out of the village with pitchforks. [Maybe she shouldn't have tried at all.]

She didn't cry when they followed her into the forest, the hardworking shrine maiden, red hair turning a steady grey as she aged, still as uptight as always as she called into the night: Slay the youkai! [The dirty, evil, stupid youkai.]

She didn't cry when the other kappa scolded her as they sealed their base shut with a crude, hastily procured mechanism. [So, so stupid.]

So stupid.

* * *

><p>Their house was finally complete, half a year since he ran away from home.<p>

Built as a sort of extension to the treehouse near the river where he had nearly drowned, only to be saved by a ponytailed kappa. It was complete with an adjacent work shed where Nitori could experiment with the trinkets he brought her.

They shared cucumber sandwiches on the wooden floor.

* * *

><p>She tried to bake him a cake for his 38th birthday, but it resulted is an explosion loud enough to scare fairies a mile away off.<p>

_"Next time, label the gunpowder jar as gunpowder, and the sugar as sugar."_

_"The batter tasted superb, though… Added that proper spark!"_

* * *

><p>The other kappa came to visit the house today. Somehow a couple of fairies and an oni appeared, and the party that lasted through the night was legendary. Only once did one wood fairy remark that the party's host was a human, and this resulted in many a disapproving glare at her. He laughed, patted the embarrassed fairy on the back, and the party continued with an even greater vigor.<p>

* * *

><p>They started a cucumber garden out back. There was nothing he loved doing more than caring for it.<p>

_"I guess i just have a green thumb."_

_"No, you don't! That'd be weird."_

* * *

><p>Why didn't he want to go swimming with her anymore? He was tired, he said.<p>

He sat at the water's edge and clapped when she did backflips in the water. It wasn't the same.

* * *

><p>She loved it when he did her hair in the morning.<p>

His fingers were fumbling and couldn't quite tie her hair neatly as he used to. Later, she redid her pigtails herself where he couldn't see.

* * *

><p>Why was he crying? He hadn't cried since he was a little boy.<p>

_"You're as young and beautiful as always, Nitori. It's not fair."_

Nothing ever is.

* * *

><p>She tried to get him out of bed and take a walk. He yelled at her.<p>

* * *

><p><em>"Thank you for everything. Will you take care of the house for me, Nitori?"<em>

He handed her the key to the front door. She shoved it back into his wrinkly hands.

_"You can do that yourself!"_

_"Not anymore, my love…"_

She put the key on a rope. He reached around her and tied the knot with his bony hands, his flesh sagging on his old fingers.

* * *

><p>The cucumber garden out back began to resemble a graveyard. She tried to fix it, but plants don't quite work like machines when it comes to fixing.<p>

Neither did humans.

* * *

><p>Why was his hair so white? It made him look like Rinnosuke. He should have kept it brown. Could he dye it blue so it matched hers?<p>

She was so happy when she made him laugh.

* * *

><p>She held his hand all day long.<p>

_"Thank you, thank you…"_

_"Stop thanking me!"_

_"I'll never be done thanking you. I love you, Nitori."_

_"I… But… But what are you.."_

A finger brushes away the tear on her cheek.

_"Don't cry, it's not scary."_

_"What?"_

_"Don't cry, you shouldn't be scared…"_

_"Are you scared?"_

_"No. I'm relieved to finally… rest…"_

Stupid humans, being so fragile, so weak. Selfishly weak.

_Breathe._

_Please, please breathe._

_Breathe, goddesses d*mnit, wake up and breathe!_

_You can't be dead, please…_

_..._

* * *

><p><em>...<em>

I'm sorry you had to listen to that, Hina. They sky's gotten rather dark, hasn't it…"

"Yes, I suppose…" The curse goddess had nothing more to say. She directed her basket in the other direction and bid her pigtailed friend good-bye with limited small talk. Nitori watched, as the current sent the goddess of misfortune spinning (on purpose) downriver, until she was only a small, green spiraling dot rounding the horizon. She noticed that the curse doll had a darker air around her.

The kappa hadn't intended to tell her the longwinded story; she hadn't told anyone else before. It was a matter from a very, very long time ago, and you know what they say: "The gods created time so that there would be a place to bury the failures of the past." But then, Hinarin was a doll of misfortune––you couldn't help but give your troubles to her.

She climbed off her stone perch with these thoughts weighing her down, careful not to slip onto the mud and into the water. With agility you could only expect a kappa to have, she made her way down the river herself, following a tributary down its rapids to where the foam poured generously into a calm section of the river, reflecting the deep purple of the setting sun.

_Our house._

Her key, she realized as she untied it from the straps that went around her arms, had long since rusted over, but it still turned the lock. The lock to the front door.

_Our front door._

She curled up on the bed and the tears that had refused to fall all those decades ago came then.

She didn't come out for days.


	7. Nitori, Pt Final

_He's knocking on the door because he doesn't have the key anymore_

_Why did he give me the key_

_It's our house_

_Ours, together, where is he?_

_Why did he leave?_

The banging on the door didn't cease, and it yanked Nitori out of her haunting dreams.

"Kawashiro-san! Are you in here?"

Nitori opened the door, rubbing her exhausted eyes. Hinarin stood there, and the kappa found her eyes immediately drawn to the tears in her dress, the light amount of blood on her forehead.

"Hina? What happened?"

"Nitori, there's quite a commotion going on!"

"What, what is… what?"

"The shrine at the top of the mountain caused a…"

"There's a shrine on top of the mountain?"

"Well, there is now! You've missed a lot in the past week…!"

* * *

><p>The optical camouflage suit––of Nitori's own invention from a short while ago, one she thought would come in handy in this level of Mountain defense. She had actually been excited to test it; nevertheless, Nitori didn't feel the weight of the circumstance was dire enough that she had to turn it on.<p>

This sort of force strategy was in no way meant to be offensive and was simply for surveillance and precautionary means conjured up by the tengu and kappa leaders in case the mountain was ever in threat, but the amount of ground that needed to be covered as outlined in the decided plan was immense, and thus Nitori was needed to monitor the waterfall. (The fairies, however abundant, were never any help, except as being a nuisance.)

She sighed, taking a lap around the general area, surveying. She still wasn't quite sure what the fuss was about, as Hina had been in a rush and had only heard vague details about an "apparent threat reported by the harvest god's older sister." Honestly? She didn't have the motivation to care. The kappa looked into the distance; was she growing cynical with age? When was the last time she went drinking...

She couldn't think about this. Too much exertion she didn't feel like outputting.

Did she wish he'd come back? No, that's not right. If she saw his face again, she'd breakdown, freak out. The anger, the anxiety, the guilt, the long nights spent mourning...

The things people say at funerals? It'll get better. You'll get through it.  
>The thing is? That's a lie.<p>

When someone like that leaves you, they leave a huge, gaping hole, and no; it doesn't get better. You learn to live with it. Now and then, you might be able to pretend you don't see it there. It hurts, but she stepped around it, hovered over it, minimized the pain: stayed away from the human village, turned the other way and ran at the sight of men. Kept to the kappa village, avoided their house (although she was never able to part with the key; not out of emotion, but because she promised to take care of it.) For a good amount of time, she refused to eat cucumber sandwiches, but decided it was okay when she realized there wasn't a cucumber in the world that tasted like his.**

It never heals, but you live with it. You live with that huge, gaping hole obscuring your psychological view of everything.

And you pray you don't fall in, because it's friggin difficult to get back out. Sometimes she found herself there, feeling like she'd never muster the effort get out. It didn't matter, nothing _really _matters: time goes on ticking, and stuff keeps happening, and you're caught in the flow of things whether you want to or not. The stationary things: you can only watch as they grow smaller in the distance until you're not sure whether you can see them anymore.

Nitori had given up looking behind. She'd fallen in again, but here were the events of life, sweeping her up off her feet, into an optical camouflage suit, out the door, past the tributary by their house, past the waterfall, towards the mountains boundaries: looking straight ahead, with a smile on her face, optimistic for the future. He could come running up behind her and tap her on the shoulder. From now on, there was no looking ba

Holy mother of sh*t

_"Gah? A human!"_

* * *

><p>**That's what she said<p>

* * *

><p>The girl pulled down the brim of her black witch's hat with pride in her flawless victory as Nitori watched the suit of her invention flicker out of life.<p>

"You're a human, but you picked out my optical camoflauge suit pretty well..."

"You weren't hidden at all. You really stood out," she grinned. Shining. Blonde hair; the sunlight bounced off the water and lit her freckled face up like an angel.  
>For some reason, a panicking impulse to run as far as physically possible overtook the kappa.<p>

"See you, human!" she cried out in a rush. Then, she suddenly remembered the threat, and Hina's rush story of the shrine at the top of the mountain. The god that threatened to alter their lives with horrifying things like faith and magic and, worst of all... shrine maidens.  
>"By the way, it's dangerous if you go any further!" she added, stuttering, as she speedily retreated.<p>

* * *

><p>Was she... going further up? Nitori was patient for a kappa, but she wasn't so sure what Mato-san or Shicchan might do if they saw the black-white witch flying mach-speed up the mountain when there was a moderate level Mountain defense call up.<p>

As casually as possible, Nitori started the jets on her boots and attempted to look friendly as she dropped in front of the girl, still quite nervous... she was evidently _human, _but definitely... different. Humans didn't shoot rainbow colored lasers out of their palms, for one.

"Heyyy, it's the human from before!" she grinned, looking genially at her as if the kappa had only now noticed her there. It's not like she was spraying neon colored stars in all directions that stood out from the relatively bland mountain backdrop like a firefly does in the night. "Didn't I tell you not to go further in?"

In reply, she received a flash of sudden heat in her face as the magician blew past her indifferently.  
>"What are you talking about? Are all the youkai in the mountain like you?" Nitori heard her say when she again caught up.<p>

"Haha, s-sorry about that, it's just..." Thinking the blonde was addressing her nerves, she continued, "...it's just been  
>so long since I've actually seen a human."<br>Stuttering, she started rambling: "I just wanted to give my new optic camo suit a test run, and well I don't even want to be here, but since we live in this mountain we kappa signed this agreement to... hey!"

The girl had shrugged offhandedly, rolled her eyes with a sarcastic comment the kappa wasn't paying enough attention to to catch, and taken off yet again.

Although she was slowly growing more irritated, Nitori again put on a nervously good-natured countenance as she smiled, "Well, anyway, the mountain gets dangerous from here in, so I thought I'd chase you away."

Her yellow braid thwacking off her cheek in the wind, she increased her speed.

Now pretty much yelling, Nitori cried out with impatience, "Let me tell you straight up... Just... Just leave, already!"

This, this made the girl stop. "If you say that, it just makes me want to go on. C'mon, doesn't a big "KEEP OUT" sign just make you want to see what's behind it?" she grinned.  
>Pointed, slightly crooked teeth that glimmered.<br>Adorable.

Nitori felt her heart quicken its pace, already beating loudly out of her nervously shaking frame, but hardened her expression yet again.

"No. It doesn't. It doesn't, so go home."

"Seems like everyone's just trying to chase me away. If that's how it is, I've just got to keep on going forward..."

* * *

><p>Defeated, exhausted, and with a twig caught in her hair, she hoped the information she'd given the human girl––Marisa, she found her name was–––was accurate. And that she wouldn't be scolded for giving it to her.<p>

"We should go drinking together sometime!" she called out as the girl's flying yellow hair disappeared into the distance.  
>Her invitation went unheard; she was gone.<p>

_The difference, this time? _She thought, as she got up, started to unfasten yet again the key around her, and took off towards the house, their house, so she could repair her optical camouflage suit.

_The difference this time is that if she doesn't come back, I'll find her._

Find her, she would. Find her and show her the optical camouflage suit in all its repaired, refurbished glory; the girl had exhibited interest in it. Maybe they could talk about that octagonal item she used to shoot her largest lasers.

They'd go on to spend many an evening together, drink cucumber flavored beer, talk to each other about that time she got beat up by her trying to protect her from getting hurt because she thought she was a helpless human. Oh, but didn't the god from the top of the mountain beat you up as well, she'd be reminded. Didn't your friend, the lazy *ss shrine maiden have to go do a better job than you? Hm? Remember that, Kirisame-san?

Of course she did. That's what memories were for, Nitori, remembering and laughing, no matter how painful they might have been.

And the kappa would smile.

* * *

><p>Far, far away, resting in the Netherworld. A spirit who, like the many hundreds about him, couldn't for the life of him (pun intended) remember who he was, let alone his life's purpose.<p>

He couldn't actually think about it. He wasn't much; wouldn't look like more to you than a dim glow, if you could see him. All that he really felt was light, dark; cherry blossoms, and crying. Crying. He was very sad, and he couldn't remember why.

Couldn't remember  
>Why...?<p>

The masses of spirits about the ghost couldn't, and wouldn't, fight the need to glow, swirl about as the ghost received enlightenment. A twirling, poetic good-bye, good luck, may your next life be blessed.

Enlightenment, enlightenment in the form of a kappa, her wild blue hair tamed into two red hairties a pair of pigtails, a glowing grin as she called out his name, for him to come play with her in the water.

And as the reason for his life blanketed him, a welcoming, warm sensation, he smiled.  
><em>Here I am, at the end of my afterlife,<em> he thought. _Thank you, Nitori, for helping me to finally come home._

The spirits felt his energy begin to disperse; not lost, no, energy is never lost. It would regather again as another entity, or as part of an incomplete one. For this particular being, however, it was good-bye. In their rudimentary subconsciouses, they wondered: for him, it was this Nitori that set him free. What would be their key home?

They could only hope their reason of life made them half as jubilant as his did, as he shone more brilliantly than any enlightened spirit they'd before witnessed.

To live happy, to die happy, and to be born again happy. Happier than most, in fact.

Could there be any greater wish?


	8. Rin Satsuki

005: Rin Satsuki  
><em>Historical Irony<em>

Reimu turned on her heel, startled as behind her a girl cried out,

"Wait up, Hakurei-san!"

Her black ponytail whipping the back of her neck, Reimu about-faced and immediately attempted to appear as though she hadn't heard or seen the girl that was chasing after her. However, even if she actually hadn't, it was no use; Satsuki Rin remained forever perseverant, and forever unable to take a hint.

"Hakurei-san, I told you––"

"Would it _kill _you to call me Reimu?"

"Reimu-san, I told you––"

"Just. Just Reimu."

"…Reimu, I told you a zillion times before that you shouldn't go walking home from school alone!" she finally managed to get out on her third attempt, making the exact same hand gestures yet again.

Rin's finger in her face, Reimu sighed and tried to tune out her classmate's incessant babbling as they made their way on the (mostly) safe path back to the village from school. Kamishirasawa-sensei had, for some reason, dismissed them early for an emergency. Reimu noted that she looked quite distressed, but it wasn't like that was her problem. Right now, her problem was Rin Satsuki.

"Us humans, we have to stick together! Or else," she began, lowering her voice to a raspy whisper, "The _youkai _might get us."

With excessive dramatic flair she glanced behind them, as if she were afraid a frightening youkai were following them. On the path that cut directly through the protected area designated to the human village. This earned her only a roll of eyes from her unwilling companion.

"You know, Hakure––Reimu, Kirisame-san from the other class told me her dad, he was, like, attacked by this huuuuge scary youkai. Like, it was a fairy. But it wasn't just a weak one, it was one of the greater fairies, the stronger ones…!"

Honestly, Reimu didn't understand why some people took the threat of youkai attack so seriously; she'd seen a couple of them before, and they basically looked like humans. Add otherworldly head accessories, medieval fashion sense, and a conceited attitude, and you've got yourself a "super scary youkai." Reimu was relatively sure she could take one in a fight.

"Wait, wait, where are you going? Hakure––I mean, Reimu-sa––I mean Reimu, where are you going? The way to the village is this way where––"

"Okay, Satsuki? Rin? Look," Reimu began, stopping in her tracks, which nearly caused Rin to collide with her and trip.

"I always take this way home from school. It's shorter to cut through the forest. If you're whinily worried about how _daaaangerous _it is, you can take the normal, longer, boringer path. If you're gonna' follow me, I expect you to _shut up_. Capiche? "

Rin took one long look at the girl in front of her, hands on hips, garbed in a drab red in white outfit that clearly stated, "No, I don't care about the school uniform." And Rin thought for a moment about herself, and how she would never dress like that. How she let her mom cut her hair school regulation, how she took her traditional erhu lessons like a good girl, and how the cute boy in class 2-B looked, even when he wasn't looking at her.

She thought for a moment about how cute he must look, then, facing her, and simply nodded.

Rin Satsuki wanted to be like the outgoing, energetic Kirisame-san, the bouncy, gorgeous Kochiya-san, the composed Izayoi-senpai, or maybe like the ever popular under-classman Konpaku-san, otherwise known as Myon-chan, as all the girls in her grade took to calling the small girl. These girls? They stood out. They were the talk of the school. If Kamishirasawa-sensei or the other teachers were caught bragging about her classes, as she often would be, their names would come out.

But most of all, Rin wanted to be like Reimu Hakurei, her own classmate that even sat directly in front of her. That, "I-don't-give-a-d*mn" attitude that made all the boys fawn over her, despite her destitute economic stance… hair strewn into a hasty ponytail that, while looking like she didn't care a bit about her appearance, still looked so… beautiful. Maybe the not-caring part was what made it so beautiful… No, beautiful wasn't the word.

The word was cool.

Yes, Rin Satsuki wanted to stand out. To be known. To be remembered. To be _cool!_

A main character! Just like Makoto-chan from her favorite anime. Composed, distant, and basically _awesome._

So Rin Satsuki stepped into that forest, in line with Reimu Hakurei in front of her.

She stepped, and she stepped, feeling with each step herself getting closer to that cool.

And closer.

And closer.

Right into Reimu's backside.

"Augh! Rin, where were you looking?"

"Um, permission to speak?"

Reimu groaned. "Granted."

"Um, I wasn't looking ahead."

Reimu fought the urge to smack her forehead. "Obviously! You bumped into me!"

Rin stared at her feet until she could stay silent no longer.

"Um, Reimu, why exactly did… Did we stop?"

"Look for yourself."

Satsuki Rin peeked from behind the taller girl and through the break in the trees and was temporarily blinded with shock as she took in the bright orange glow lighting up her burning Human Village.

Sprinting to the end of the path, her face was assaulted by a wave of heat.

Outshining the already setting sun, Rin shielded her eyes and was just able to make out the shape of a bright, fiery bird in the sky. She supposed that the now full moon would be visible in the distance by now, if it were even possible to look directly overhead without blinding herself.  
>Even Reimu didn't seem able to keep her cool entirely. She inhaled deeply, fighting a cough from the ash that was already beginning to reach them, and said, "Pheonix."<p>

"What?" Rin asked.

"The thing in the sky. It looks like a phoenix."

"What's that?"

"Well, it's a big, fiery bird, for one," she said, dripping with sarcasm.

"And what's that in front of it? A girl?"

Indeed, casting a ridiculous shadow was the figure of a girl in a kimono with apparently very long hair. This wasn't the focus of Reimu's mind; instead, she was internally chuckling about how calm they were, despite their hometown and possibly everyone they had ever known being burnt to bits. The forest itself might catch soon enough, too, and she supposed they were risking their lives just standing there.

This, she pointed out to Rin.

"Oh, crap, that's right, oh my gosh! We're going to be burnt up into ashes and then charcoal and die, oh Kami-sama save us now….!" she began, running in circles with panic.

"We did pass a lake, you know. You could go jump in it. Literally. You can't catch fire in there. Or you could just run," Reimu said, refusing to take her eyes off of the spectacle that was the burning village.

"But what about you, Haku––Reimu?"

"I'll stay here."

"But… But why?"

"Because I feel… like I have to. You can stay too, if you'd like."

Stay here?

Should she?

Would that make her be remembered? Be cool?

What's the use of being cool when you're _dead?_

Rin Satsuki felt the inevitable tears rush down her cheeks and turned back down on the path.

Maybe she didn't really run because she was scared of the fire.

Maybe she actually ran because she suddenly remembered the boy from class 2-B, and how he was absent from school today. He must have stayed home.

Maybe she ran because she didn't want Reimu the Cool to see her cry.

Maybe that doesn't matter, why she ran away.

Maybe what matters is that she did, and Reimu didn't.

Moments later, a bicycle meant for one, carrying two, came to a shuddering stop in front of Reimu, spraying her clothes with soil. She immediately recognized the girl unconscious behind the driver to be Kirisame Marisa; they were classmates last year and had somehow become good friends, but lost touch when the new school year began with them in different classes.

The driver looked to be her teacher, Kamishirasawa Keine. However, unless timid Kamishirasawa-sensei had taken the time in the inferno to dye her hair green and grow cow horns, then…

"Oh, hi, Hakurei-san, it's me. Your teacher."

Oh.

Well, okay.

"Nice hair," Reimu said, making light of the mood. "What's with her?" she asked, pointing to the unconscious Kirisame-san slumped behind her teacher.

"Marisa was staying after school because she really wanted to know more about the formulas I started describing in class today when the––_why am I telling you this? We have no time!"_

She was right. Just a couple hundred yards away from them, a tree had caught fire, and the rest of the forest wasn't likely to wait very long before joining it.

"Reimu, you're brave, right? Of course you are. Standing here in a forest staring at your burning village. Good. Great. I'm counting on you, okay? Well, not just you. I'll throw in a few of my other students too; I'm still writing the story in my head, right now, but I'm definitely not carrying all the hard work in it!I mean I managed to deal with the ghost girl and the moody vampire thing myself, but honestly my own best friend can't put a stupid grudge aside for the sake of a–––_oh why the hell am I telling you all this!" _she screamed. She was hysterical. Kind of like when Inami-san was caught cheating on the history final.

Reimu was freaked, for sure, but Keine seemed to be putting a lot of faith in her, and she seemed to need it. So when her teacher outstretched her hand to her, she took it.

"Alright Reimu, let's save Gensokyo."

"What, how?"

"By making it so you guys prevent any of the crappola in its history from happening so badly!"

Reimu shrugged; anything could happen, she presumed, and decided to trust what her teacher said. Even though she had literally just said 'crappola.'  
>Then, as the image of a talkative little girl who played the erhu flashed in her mind, she paused for a second, and looked behind her, towards where the forest lake was.<p>

"We okay, Reimu? Is something wrong?" her teacher asked, looking at Reimu with concern.

"No, no, nothing. Not that I can really tell you, since I have no clue what f*cking insane thing you're about to do. But if I end up living, that's nifty," she grinned.

Keine smiled back and clutched her student's hand tightly. Having dismounted her bicycle and leaned it, and Kirisame-san, against a tree (rather hazardous considering the fire and all) she reached over and took Marisa's hand as well.

"Alright, girls. Let's change history."


End file.
